Living well with
Chronic Kidney Disease
Meet the Kidney Supportive Care Research Group (KSCRG)
Dr. Sara Davison, MD, MHSc, FRCPC
Founder and Director
Sara Davison is a Professor, bioethicist and health outcomes researcher in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta. She is a nephrologist with the Alberta Kidney Care - North (ACK-N) program and heads the Kidney Supportive/Palliative Care Initiatives. Her passion and vision for reducing the suffering of patients living with advanced chronic kidney disease is the foundation for the Kidney Supportive Care Research Group. Her research and clinical innovation is at the forefront of kidney supportive care internationally and she is recognized as a world leader in the area. She acts as a consultant for establishing kidney supportive/palliative care programs and co-Chairs the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Supportive Care Group with the aim of developing international guidelines for kidney supportive care.
Her program of research focuses on the delivery of quality supportive care for patients with advanced kidney failure. This includes issues such as symptom management; shared decision-making and advance care planning, prognostication and illness trajectories, and the development of clinical decision aids and care pathways such as the Conservative Kidney Management Pathway.
Tanya Barber, MA
Senior Project Manager
Tanya is one of the Kidney Supportive Care Research Group’s Senior Project Managers and co-manages the one:carepath study with Lynn Toon. She holds a Masters of Arts degree and has over 15 years of experience in varying health research contexts. In the past ten years her work has focused on partnering with primary care. Tanya brings proficiency in project management and supporting research partnerships. Her unique skill set as a qualitative researcher has afforded her the ability to understand the primary care landscape, i.e. how primary care health teams in Alberta think about and approach the work of delivering healthcare to Albertans.
Lynn Toon, RN, MSc
Senior Project Manager
Lynn is a Senior Project Manager and co-manages with Tanya Barber. She has a Masters of Science in Healthcare Policy and Management Studies, and over 25 years of international, national and provincial healthcare research experience which has been built on the foundation of her acute care nursing experience. Lynn is skilled at working collaboratively with healthcare providers, patients and family/caregivers to develop tools that enable continuity in transitions of care and advance the delivery of team-based care for the benefit of patients.
Chelsy George, BSc
Research Coordinator
Chelsy is the Kidney Supportive Care Research Group's Research Coordinator. She has a Bachelor’s of Science specializing in Psychology, and experience connecting with frail patients. She is responsible for coordinating the group's research studies, managing operational activities, completing regulatory requirements, and completing other research related activities as needed.
Betty Ann Wasylynuk, BScN, RN
Kidney Supportive Care Clinical Nurse Educator
Betty Ann is the Kidney Supportive Care Clinical Nurse Educator for the Alberta Kidney Care - North (ACK-N) program. She has helped develop and implement several supportive care initiatives throughout ACK-N, is currently part of the Conservative Kidney Management team, and a member of the Kidney Supportive Care Research Group. Betty Ann’s passion lies in the area of palliative care and advance care planning for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and she has published several articles in this area.
Sarah Rathwell, MSc
Data Analyst
Sarah is the Kidney Supportive Care Research Group's Data Analyst. She holds bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and Statistics with a specialization in public health, and completed a Master of Science degree in Applied Statistics through the University of Guelph, with a specialization in survival analysis and statistical computing. Her research focuses on modeling the relationship between overall survival and progression-free survival in longitudinal data. Sarah is responsible for statistical support and analysis for the KSCRG's various research projects.
Interested in joining our team? Check out the available opportunities!
Vision: To help people enjoy life while living with advanced chronic kidney disease by becoming a world leader in kidney supportive care research and clinical innovation.